Chapter 93: Good Times
"Someone tell me I'm dreaming." Sirius gave himself a pinch on his forearm. It was like the very final week of their three months break and in the following week, all the students would be returning and lessons would resume.
"You're not dreaming." James added monotonously. James' mother, Stefanie's father and Remus' parents had dropped by Hogwarts to see their kids and spent a week in Hogwarts with Dumbledore's kind hospitality. They had just returned earlier today with promises of frequent owl posts. Arabella's mother had been in Hogwarts all the while since she was the current Defense Against Dark Arts teacher.
"For once, I'm not looking forward for lessons to start." Lily tone was not exactly excited, to put it mildly. They simply had too much fun in that few school-less weeks and just serving their prolonged detention, which they did it almost gladly.
"Neither am I." Arabella said miserably. "It means that I'm going to be separated from you all again and gotta get back to my muggle orphanage."
"I've an idea how we can lengthen our break." Remus suggested.
"What??" The rest turned to look at him with a hopeful expression.
"Let's travel back to time for a month." Remus stated. "We can just play because for the whole while we're too busy serving detentions during schooling hours. Perhaps this time we can hang out at Hogsmeade or something."
"A rational side of me will say that a month back would be too long. How about we just return for a week instead?? And if we still hasn't had enough we can adjust accordingly."
"Not too many times of course."
"Definitely, otherwise we would look like a century old to be in Hogwarts seventh year."
"This is so heavenly." Lily sipped a little of her butterbeer. The sextet had returned back in time with Remus' supernatural ability.
"Look at that six of us, suffering back in Hogwarts." Sirius joked. "Let me see, at this time last week, I think I was cleaning the seventh floor corridors." The group laughed at his little joke.
"I'm starting to love this feeling." Arabella commented. "Being in the magical community is simply superb."
"Let's not stay too long around here. I think there's some carnival going on at the central."
"We should get some stock up from Honeydukes too."
"We can camp overnight in the tunnel between Honeydukes and Hogwarts on our final night. In that case we don't need to worry about not being back on time."
"So shall we plan our itinerary before we start heading off??"
"Day one, we shall spend time going around Hogsmeade."
"Day two, we shall explore Hogsmeade."
"Yeah, and day three, we shall start entering shops in Hogsmeade."
"Very funny."
"Back to topic, what shall be the plan??"
"We just head over to the carnival today, then spend the night in the inn. Not too safe to be out in the nights lately."
"I agree with Stef."
"Then tomorrow we shall go somewhere nice to eat and play. How about the bar down at the village central?? It seems rather happening."
"Yeah, then the day after we should do some pre-school shopping."
"At least this year we need not worry about books and potion ingredients."
"We need not worry about anything because we're not supposed to be shopping outside Hogwarts at all."
"Oh yeah, nearly forgot we're forbidden out here."
"So we can just shop for new broomsticks and clothes, huh??"
"Then day four??"
"We can apparate to the nearby beach for a break??"
"Great idea, not too crowd too."
"Then the day after we can head down to Diagon Alley, just shop around for a few hours."
"I simply miss the quidditch shop there."
"I agree with you. The mag showed the newest broomstick and only QSS has it up for display."
"Ok, so on Saturday we shall just loiter around before heading down to the tunnel for our overnight camp."
"Ok, that settles everything."
"By the way, when's the next full moon??"
"A week after lessons resume." Remus replied. The other Marauders had not been able to join Remus for his last three transformations because if any students were missing, it was too obvious. And now, the Marauders were pretty much looking forward for their next exploration coming up.
"May I have your attention please??" Sirius announced.
"What??"
"Please excuse Miss Figg and I for the afternoon."
"Huh??"
"What??" Arabella was surprised too.
"I would like to invite this gorgeous lady for a date." Sirius took Arabella's hand, which made everyone burst into laughter. "Just the two of us."
"Excuse me, but Mr. Black, when did I agree to go on a date with you??"
"Now??"
"C'mon Bell, just go ahead."
"But-"
"It's ok, we'll see you tonight." Lily assured and both she and Stefanie gave her a gentle shove so she would leave her seat.
"Thank you, my audience." Sirius bowed at the people by the table.
"Have fun."
"See ya." Sirius and Arabella left the group and went off for their date outside the Three Broomsticks.
"So much for going to the carnival together." Stefanie teased.
"I guess that's normal, afterall Bell isn't here all the time."
"I supposed so. So are we going together or you two are planning on your own solo date??" James asked.
"Stef?? Do you wanna go together or the two of us??" Remus asked causally, giving Stefanie a look.
"Well, it would be nice that we can spend some quality time together, just the two of us." Her not-so-innocent statement earned a glare from Lily.
"Not you too." Lily groaned.
"C'mon dearie, let's get going before it's getting dark." Remus laughed as he stood up.
"Remmy dearie, it's only the beginning of noon." Stefanie added jokingly.
"I see you guys tonight back in the inn then." Remus shot James a look.
"What's wrong with you guys??"
"Nothing, just need some couple time, you see." Remus grinned.
"See ya later."
"Bye." Remus and Stefanie left the Three Broomsticks, holding hands and laughing at their joke as they walked out.
"Looks like left us again." James commented.
"Yeah, all of them are doing the couple-ly stuffs." Lily shrugged.
"We can do couple-ly stuffs if you want too."
"Nah, thanks for the offer."
"So what do you wanna do now??"
"I seriously don't have much clue. But I guess they probably head over to the carnival, wanna go there??"
"Ok with me, but I don't think any of them are at the carnival."
"Why not??"
"Given what I understand about that two, I think they have a different way of spending the afternoon."
"Haven't exactly have a chance to chat with you guys in the last couple of days." Lily commented. The three girls lain comfortably on the mat as they tanned themselves under the hot afternoon sun.
"Well, isn't James a good company??" Arabella teased.
"He's ok, but it's different with you gals."
"Well, Sirius had gotten a little more matured since I last seen him."
"That guy had gotten insane since you left Hogwarts. You should have seen his outrageous actions."
"He told me some of them actually. That's Sirius, always doing something out of this world."
"Been wanting to ask you, where did you guys went after leaving Three Broomsticks that day??"
"Eh.." Stefanie sat up and applied any coat of sun-block over her face and body.
"Hmm..??" Arabella turned and laid on her stomach as she tanned her back, using the damp towel to cover her hair and face.
"I went to the Shack." Stefanie admitted.
"The tunnel in Honeydukes."
"So much for suggesting going to the carnival."
"Did you go there??"
"Yeah, went with James if that's what you two wanna hear."
"I knew it, and you had a great time too. Look at your love-struck smile when we saw you in the room that night."
"Still have the cheek to reprimand me when I waited for an hour before anyone return."
"We're just having too much fun, you see."
"At least today I wouldn't be seeing only James' face for the whole day."
"I thought you enjoyed it??"
"I didn't say I enjoyed that. I only said he's ok."
"Padfoot!! Quit drooling and play properly." James scolded his buddy who was barely concentrating on their beach volleyball game.
"Can't help it. Too many bikini babes around." Sirius smiled and waved at a group of girls who just walked passed, which made them giggled.
"None of them are pretty anyway." James said, scanning the crowd for skimpily dressed girls.
"Lily is the prettiest. We know." Remus teased.
"Wanna join us for a game??" Some girls approached the three of them.
"Thanks but our girlfriends are over there." Remus rejected them politely because he had expected James and Sirius to lose their minds in front of these surfer babes.
"Never mind then."
"Whose girlfriends are there??" Sirius questioned.
"Ours."
"Stef is yours. But we both are still single."
"Don't think I don't know that you like Bell."
"Ya, and the whole world know that Prongs like Lily."
"Me again??"
"Prongs, you've been staring at Lily since she appeared in the orange bikini and yellow surf shorts."
"I didn't."
"Stubborn fella."
"I don't feel like playing anymore, shall we go for a dip instead??"
"Alright."
"Let's compete see who reaches the floating platform first."
"You're on." The three guys ran into the water and started swimming freestyle towards the wooden platform about fifty meters away from the shoreline.
"I'm feeling a sense of déjà vu." The group had gathered after their relaxing week at Hogsmeade. It was the final Saturday before lessons starting the day after tomorrow. Right now they were making their way to Honeydukes before it closed for the day.
"The typical sense for foreboding that lessons is starting."
"Right on target."
"That's normal."
"Our Padfoot is returning to his normal sanity??"
"Bell, you've gotta teach us your secret method of regaining his sanity."
"Well, give him occasional kisses will do." Arabella grinned.
"Eeww, do you have any better suggestion that we can do??"
"I wouldn't want to kiss him for a million galleons."
"Thanks but I don't like the idea of a guy kissing me. It just drive me nuts."
"It's difficult imagining James and Sirius kissing."
"You can't imagine that because that's never going to happen."
"Thank goodness. I'm starting to afraid James might kiss me when Lily isn't around."
"Seriously, I can assure you that as long as I'm a man, I'm not going to kiss you at all."
"Good. I like that man."
"That comment sounds a little gay."
"You're being oversensitive."
"Hey, grab some sweets before returning." Remus reminded. The group dispersed inside Honeydukes to get whatever sweets they felt like stocking up before their next trip to Hogsmeade.
"When we wake up from this little nap, we ought to have traveled back time."
"Your timing better be accurate."
"You can trust me."
"Padfoot, I really don't like the sound of those words coming out from your mouth."
"Would you like to hear them coming out from my anus instead??"
"NO!!"
Pppppprrrrruuuuuutttttt!!
"Argh!!"
"Eeww!!" Lily quickly muttered a charm to get rid of the smelly German gas that filled the tunnel several seconds ago.
"Thanks Lils."
"SIRIUS!!"
"Did you hear my anus saying 'you can trust me'??"
"I can tell you I absolutely do not wish to hear it again."
"Well, I don't think it can say anything at the moment. Wait till the feeling come back."
"I hope the feeling won't come back too soon."